NYT Boss to Journos: Get Off Twitter Already
Well... bye
I don’t remember the last time I agreed with New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet. Heck, I don’t even remember the first time. But somebody just leaked a memo he wrote to his staff, and for once I’m with him 100%.
Here’s how the memo starts:
“For some time, I’ve been hearing serious concerns from newsroom colleagues about the challenges that Twitter presents… We can rely too much on Twitter as a reporting or feedback tool—which is especially harmful to our journalism when our feeds become echo chambers. We can be overly focused on how Twitter will react to our work, to the detriment of our mission and independence. We can make off-the-cuff responses that damage our journalistic reputations. And for too many of you, your experience of Twitter is shaped by harassment and attacks.”
As well as substantive correction and criticism, which they can safely ignore because some of the criticism isn’t so substantive.
So he’s telling them to cool it with the Twitter already. They don’t need to go online to spread rumors and gossip. They’ve already got a whole newspaper for that.
Speaking as a frequent Twitter user who’s trying to be a less frequent Twitter user, I’m fine with fewer journos joking around with each other about how dumb the rubes are. I’m okay with them not using that platform to make excuses for their shoddy work. If they don’t want to listen to us when we point out their numerous errors of fact and logic, they shouldn’t have to. They can go sneer at the rest of us around their own water cooler.
Run along, liars.
On a related note: LOL.
Speaking of journos who need to log off…
The other day I mentioned WaPo technology reporter Taylor Lorenz, who recently revealed in an MSNBC interview that she suffers “severe PTSD” from mean comments on the internet. Apparently it’s even worse than we thought, because even that very TV interview gave her PTSD:
MSNBC gave her a chance to air her grievances, and then she blamed them for the reaction:
Looks like somebody at MSNBC took that to heart and deleted the video from their YouTube channel. Talk about service!
But what’s all the fuss about? In the interest of historical preservation, here’s the video MSNBC just deleted:
Absolutely terrible. Really tough to watch. But enough about Taylor’s method acting.
She’s a tough, brave journalist… who needs to be protected from those meanies who keep hurting her feelings.
I’m not saying those are the crocodile tears of a narcissist who’s obsessed with her own victimhood, but the whole thing seems pretty overwrought. Dude, I get attacked online all the time. People say mean things about my looks, getting hit by a car, how boring and unfunny I am, etc. Very rude language is often used. It’s not very nice, but nobody at MSNBC wants to interview me about taking online abuse. Only certain people’s feelings matter, apparently.
What’s that you say? It’s a gender thing? Then please remind me: Did MSNBC ever fret about the savagely insane attacks on Sarah Palin? Meghan McCain? Megyn Kelly? Amy Coney Barrett? Any other prominent non-liberal women? Or is that empathy reserved for their own tribe?
Ms. Lorenz just keeps complaining about being victimized, and she just keeps failing upward. I assume it’ll earn her a cable news show eventually. Hey, CNN’s 9PM slot recently opened up. How about calling it… Taylor Made?
Okay, I’m gonna put this last thing behind the paywall to keep out the riffraff…